number. look at the advance on the declining stocks. whenever you see the advancing stocks around 500 or below, that's pretty rare. there you see about 575 advancing stock. as for the big volume leaders, they will all financials, but they're all financials on the downside. remember, we saw the big names like citigroup trading over a billion shares recently, well over $5. all those big names are down. also as the market started selling off in the middle of the day, volatility picked up, the vix picked up. we saw the dollar rally. that brought stocks down even further. rick santelli, it wasn't just the dollar that rallied here. bonds did as well. >> yeah, absolutely. just an interesting day, and before we get to the boards here, bob, it was fascinating, it took a half hour before the dollar index really jumped on. real quickly, we had a terrific bill auction today, one-month bill. i don't think that's a coinciden coincidence. there's an anxiety.

next, traders noting that things like two-year notes were leading the early buying charge. why is that? well, fed funds are making new contract highs that make sense. fed on hold really nailed today. and the last but not least, if you look at how the buying has come in, is it really equal? yields are only down a couple on the day. look at the next chart. it says it all. mirror images. those are ten-year prices, not yields, with s&p prices at 1037, boom, they were off in different directions in an aggressive way. now i believe we're going to go to scott wapner. >> i'll take it up there. thanks so much rick. and the tech trade is under pressure at the nasdaq, down 1.6%. overall this market certainly weighing on ebay today down 2.3%. of course, the stocks started the day up on this news that its reached a definitive agreement to sell skype. 65% stake. that's $1.9 billion. that was above what many analysts had estimated the value of skype to be just a couple months ago when origiy ebay

had talked about ipo'ing the business and spinning it off. obviously, some down days as far as the nasdaq is concerned, but a couple names also under their own pressure, genzyme shares up a full percent. the fda saying they have to go back to the drawing board for their leukemia drug. oracle sun microsystems under a bit of pressure certainly ahead of the overall market, but the european commission it looks like according to sources at reuters that the european commission could stall the closure of this transaction. i just want to point out one last thing. research in motion and palm, some of the main components of the nasdaq that are to the upside right now. those hand held makers stronger in light of a credit squeeze downgrade of the competition nok nokia. maybe they can gain some share. erin, back to you. >> an op-ed, in "u.sa today" stimulus has failed.

let's direct $400 billion toward cutting the deficit. joining us from rich mord -- richmond, eric cantor. >> congressman cantor, you're saying there are $400 billion committed to stimulus in the package that was passed earlier this year that won't be spent by the end of the year. you're saying take that money and put it towards paying the deficit. procedurally in congress could we do that at this point? >> sure we can do that, erin, and let's look at the situation here. we're going to have a $1.5 trillion deficit this year, the largest in history. it was announced last week that the country will be facing close to a $10 trillion deficit over the next ten years. this is money that we're spending that we don't have frankly that our children and their children will have to pay off. and since we know now that the stimulus has not met the criteria by which it was passed and the white house promoted it, which was to stave off job

losses and to stop unemployment from reaching above 8.5%, since we know it's been a failure, why not do the responsible thing, which is to take the $400 billion that has not been committed yet or not been spent but been committed to the stimulus and just pay off the debt and deficit so we can get our fiscal house back in order? >> i know you didn't support the stimulus from the beginning, so you're consistent clearly in that view, but when you say it's a failure, it is also fair to say, right, that a lot of this money went to, let's just say, extending unemployment benefits, things like that which you may or may not think are the best way to provide stimulus but no doubt did something for some people. can you really tell for sure it's a failure at this point? >> well, listen, i know when times are tough we need to be trying to address those who can't help themselves, but this stimulus bill was targeted towards job creation. this white house said that we needed to jolt the economy, and we were going to stave off unemployment.

those two goals have not been met, so now is not the time for us to load up on the federal spending on wasteful -- somewhat wasteful projects and projects that don't need to have priority treatment. right now i think the best thing we can do is create an environment for job creators to get back into the game. obviously, we have global investors looking at our country wondering how we're going to be able to deal with this overwhelming deficit that we're creating. and not to mention the fact that we've got american families sitting at their kitchen tables every night wondering how it is they're going to get through the month, wondering whether their financial security is going to return and whether they'll have a job. it's time really that washington begins to act responsibly and, frankly, we ought to be starting to put the next generation before the next election and go ahead and begin to pay off this deficit. >> congressman cantor, you raise an interesting point there which is around -- i want to let everyone know what we're seeing is a live picture outside the white house and the rose garden

where the president will be speaking about swine flu. congressman continuer, y o cant about how people are sitting around wondering how they're going to pay their debts. it seems americans are concerned about the deficit. if we pay it back too quickly, we could end up in a deeper hole economically than they were before. are you worried about pulling the trigger too quickly. >> this was the stimulus money. this was not the federal spending that was already on course to increase the deficit. this was the extra nearly $800 billion that congress authorized, and it did so in a manner that frankly produced low priority projects in a lot of different areas, and it produced a lot of pork barrel spending. we can't afford that type of behavior in washington. i think the american people are looking to us to begin a responsible path, and what that should mean is we should take this $400 billion and then begin to do what's right by the

people, get our fiscal house back in order, begin to pare down that deficit. >> the hardest thing about this idea would be standing up and it would take a lot of courage to stand up and tell america we're going to do this, and it may mean this economy is weak maybe as a result of pulling back the stimulus or not, but we're not going to spend more money or borrow more money to get out of it. america, if it's going to be years of an economy that's shrinking, we got to be in this together. would you be willing to put this bill forward and tell america it may mean that? >> absolutely. but let's look at what we're saying. it's not just reduce federal spending across the board because federal spending continues to go up. if you believe we ought to have yet even more stimulus spending, that comes out of the playbook of vice president joe biden. he believes that this stimulus bill has been a resounding success and we ought to do another one. i'm saying that this stimulus bill has not been a success. it's not met the goals set out by the white house. we have unemployment since the stimulus bill's passage reaching almost 9.5%.

that means well over 2 million people in this country have lost their job. i think it's time for us to stop this type of spending and let's go ahead and be responsible and begin to pay down the debt. >> congressman cantor, thank you so much. again, we appreciate your taking the time to be with us. >> thank you. >> interesting as we just talk about this and we're awaiting the president who will begin speaking any moment now from the rose garden on swine flu, but just this whole point about stimulus and where we are. john harwood has been talking quite a bit about this, procedurally would it be possible to take this money and redirect it somewhere else? john's reported it would be possible and so obviously has congressman cantor who said the same thing. interesting article. if you want to see the other side of this, they do say the "usa today" did present the other said saying it also averted a depression when you look at it that way. the president is going to come out in a couple moments and be talking about a briefing that he

received this afternoon on swine flu preparedness. he was meeting with the secretary of education among others talking about a few specific steps that the white house is going to take for the u.s. i believe the president is going to be walking out any moment along with arnie duncan, secretary of education. i believe they're doing something with elmo and sesame street. and the president is walking up to the podium right now. >> good afternoon, everybody. before i say a few words about the meeting we just had, i'd like to mention some good news that came out today about our economy. for the first time in 18 months our manufacturing sector has expanded and the stait is the h it's been in over two years. this means greater production of transportation equipment like cars and electronic equipment and appliances. it means these companies are starting to invest more and produce more. it is a sign that we're on the path to economic recovery. there's no doubt we have a long

way to go, and i and the other members of this administration will not let up until those americans who are looking for jobs can find them, but this is another important sign that we're heading in the right direction and that the steps we've taken to bring our economy back from the brink are working. now, we just had a good meet being on ongoing efforts to prepare this country for the h1n1 flu virus this fall. i want to thank john brennan, our cdc director tom freeden, and secretary sebelius, napolitano, duncan, and locke for all the good work they've been doing to get us ready today. as i said when we saw the first cases of this virus in the spring, i don't want anybody to be alarmed, but i do want everybody to be prepared. we know that we usually get a second larger wave of these flu viruses in the fall and so response plans have been put in place across all levels of government. our plans and decisions are based on the best scientific

information available and as the situation changes, we will continue to update the public. we're also making steady progress on developing a safe and effective h1n1 flu vaccine, and we expect a flu shot program will begin soon. this program will be completely voluntary, but it will be strongly recommended. for all that we do in the federal government, however, every american has a role to play in responding to this virus. we need state and local governments on the front lines to make antiviral medications and vaccines available and be ready to take whatever steps are necessary to support the health care system. we need hospitals and health care providers to continue preparing for an increased patient load and to take steps to protect health care workers. we need families and businesses to ensure that they have plans in place if a family member, a child, or a co-worker contracts the flu and needs to stay home.

and most importantly, we need everyone to get informed about individual risk factors, and we need everyone to take the common sense steps that we know can make a difference. stay home if you're sick. wash your hands frequently. cover your sneezes with your sleeve, not your hands, and take all the necessary precautions to stay healthy. i know it sounds simple, but it's important and it works. finally, for people who want to learn more about this virus, please go to www.flu.gov or talk to your doctor. i want to commend every member of our team. i think we've done an extraordinary job in preparing for this flu outbreak. we anticipate that there will be some issues coming up over the next several months. the way it's moving is still

somewhat unpredictable, but what i'm absolutely confident about is that our team that's assembled here has done an extraordinary job in preparing for whatever may happen. so we appreciate all of you for being here, and i want to publicly again thank you for all your extraordinarily hard work. all right. >> reporter: will you send more troops to afghanistan? >> that was the president speaking about his briefing on swine flu. with people including kathleen sebelius, secretary of health and human services. next on "street signs," yes, investor, there is a magic number that will help us figure out where the market is heading. we have that for you. you're watching "street signs" and we'll be right back. 41 90. ♪ singer: buckle up, everybody 'cause we're taking a ride ♪ ♪ that can strain your relationships and hurt your pride ♪ ♪ it's the credit roller coaster ♪ ♪ and as you can see it kinda bites! ♪ ♪ so sing the lyrics with me: ♪ when your debt goes up your score goes down ♪

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today we found out manufacture something growing in america, growing for the first time in a year and a half, and that might mean everything for investors. jeffrey clinetop is chief strategist. the ism is his favorite indicator. jeff, just a couple moments ago the president was speaking. he referred to specifically to this number. he said the expansion of manufacturing is quote, unquote, a sign the u.s. is on a path to economic recovery. is he right or is he being too cautious? are we more than on a path to?

are we actually in the midst of? >> well, certainly the data this morning shows we're in the midst of, but, of course, we know this money was boosted a little bit by some of the stimulus programs which are, of course, temporary, even though they may last a few more quarters. of course, not cash for clunkers, but some of the other stimulus spending that may be striving some of the industrial and manufacturing growth we're seeing reflected in the ism ind index, but clearly we've moved from recession to recovery here, and i think the president is just being a little cautious given some of the initiatives still in congress around getting some measures passed that are in part related to the downturn. >> okay. so ism, a crucial number for you, and i have been so excited to have you on, waiting for the day the ism came out because you're saying if you're looking for a magic number to see where corporate profits are going, corporate profits which should decide where the market is going, the ism is as good as it gets.

>> absolutely. you know, earnings are really the lifeblood of the stock market. it's the intrinsic value creation that drives stock market performance, and the best leading indicator, bar none, is the ism index. you can see it in the chart there. the relationship between the two is incredible. the ism actually tends to lead profits by a quarter or two, and the rebound that we've seen so far coming back now to 52.9 does suggest that in the next couple quarters we will see profits turning positive year-over-year, and if this is like a normal recovery in the ism, we will hit 60 and that would suggest something around 20% to 25% earnings growth year-over-year as we get into 2010. >> so 20% to 25% into 2010, which by the way is compared to this year when we'd already, well, were starting to see improvement. >> right. i mean, this year is roughly flat. we're looking at about $60 or so in earnings this year. but the numbers are coming in at about $75 for next year. that's the current consensus,

analysts' estimate, and that's where the ism is increasingly pointing us to. and that to me is really the most important thing, and certainly stocks have priced in a lot of that recovery and maybe the market has become saturated with good news, but it's encouraging to see these indicators like the ism which includes a lot of things. it's not just counting units produced. it's a lot of things like pricing and the cost structure. that's why it's such a good reflection of prices rather than just gdp which just measures sales. >> so the bottom line is you're saying not just profits but the stock market itself, i mean we put that chart up of profits versus ism and could you see how literally they were in lock step, but you're saying it's not just profits but the ism will tell you at least if you look at a chart where the market is going better than anything else. >> that's right. the year-over-year change in the s&p 500 looks very much like the ism as well. >> as opposed to gdp, right? >> that's right.

gdp and the s&p 500 have no correlation. it's literally 0.00. there's no relationship between a quarter's change in gdp and the quarter's change in the s&p 500 index, but that's not true for the ism. there's a very high correlation between the two. to so this would suggest that the third quarter is on a path for some gains. of course, we've already seen much of that. >> okay. so, now, taking all of this to what does it mean for whether you buy or sell, if i'm going to look at the ism and you're saying profits could go up 20% to 25% in 2010, does ha mean the market goes up by how much? >> well, given right now we're trading at 15 times that 2010 estimate, which i think is fair, so i think the market is already priced in what the ism is telling us here. the market kind of forecast that we'd be here. so i think we've become saturated with good news to some degree. i think we will consolidate maybe for a few months here. that means buy the dips if you're not back to where you want to be with regard to the stock market.

>> but don't up your overall exposure. >> exactly. >> all right. thank you very much. appreciate it. >> thanks, erin. >> we thought everybody would be interested to find the thing most correlated with market and profits is the ism. just ahead on the show, market lower despite the better than expected data. we're down 170. one year ago though it was a whole lot worse. the housing sector was in free fall and now we have bidding wars to tell you about. that's part of our special september to remember coverage and it's next.

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there were so many pieces of data to talk about today. let's get to one of the biggest

ones, that's auto sales. how were they in the month of august and do we have a sense of where they're going right now. phil lebeau is here with a breakdown for us. hello, phil. >> hi, erin. the rest of the year is definitely not going to be as strong as it was in august for the auto industry. number of automakers had their best month since late 2007. let's take a look at the big three and some of the more notable numbers here. you see ford, they're leading the pack with a gain of 21% on the day. take a look at both chrysler and general motors. now, both are reporting lower numbers but for different reasons. chrysler down 15% largely because it was constricted with a lack of supply. general motors down 20%. that's because the comparisons with august of last year where the company had an incredibly strong sales promotion going on. those are the numbers from the big three. still waiting for toyota. overall the august rate expected to come in at 15 million. the preclunkers sales pace was between 9.5 and 10 million. so that shows you the kind of bump that we got from clunkers

in this country. post clunkers, the sales rate is expected to be just above 10 million with a sizable drop-off in september. >> in september it will drop down, and the question is how much. surely in the first two weeks it's going to be pretty soft, just like it was in the last few days of august actually. >> and that's why you take a look at shares of ford and the stock is under pressure today. it's been under pressure since the beginning of the month largely because many investors believe ford has had a nice run up until now and it will slow down for the remainder of the year. again, erin, we're waiting on numbers from toyota and the expectation is that overall industry sales will flatten out between 10 and 10.5 million for the rest of this year. an increase over the beginning of the year but still well down from what we saw due to cash for clunkers. >> right. at least barely above that level they said they needed to be profitable, right, phil? 10 million? >> right, 10 million. that's the break even point. >> we'll have phil back should

those toyota numbers come out during our hour. the other headline of the day that was better than expected was those pending home sales. it reminds us that even though there's improvement in housing, we're still, if anything, maybe bouncing on the bottom. the housing collapse is how this all started. here to look at how bad it was last september when it caused the panic and how good, bad, we'll see, how it is right now let's go to diana olick. >> hi, erin. one year ago this month fannie mae and freddie mac were taken over by the federal government. uncle sam's innukes fusion of bs served to steady the mortgage market. it all started with the 30-year fixed. take a look at where it was back in the first week of september 2008. 6.06%.%#m now, since the takeover it came down, even below 5% at points, but in the last several months it began climbing again to now 5.24%. lower interest rates though plus

a newly expanded first-time home buyer tax credit boosted existing home sales. the layest data we have is july, but you can see sales dipped after september but surged in just the last four months. that served to lower the so-called month supply of homes on the market or how long those homes would take to sell, but actual inventories of xexisting homes are not that much lower than they were last september and that may be due to foreclosures. those competitive foreclosures are a thorn in the side of the nation's home builders who are building the fewest homes in history now. starts are down about 74% from their peak in early 2005, but again have started to turn a corner in just the past few months. now, prices are always a sticky issue depending on which survey you're looking at. with he know they're still way down in double digits year-over-year and were down a year ago in september. the issue with prices is you always want to look year-over-year and we don't have

the september data yet. but looking month to month over the past several months, four to five months, we have begun to see at least a steadying in home prices. a turnaround, not yet. erin? >> thank you very much, diana. and, well, it's not all doom and gloom in the real estate market. pending home sales are up. it's been six straight months where we've seen an increase. that's the biggest winning streak since that index started in 2001. we're even starting to see bidding wars again in some markets which is our take on this story. joining us to take a look at two of the hotter markets, we have ronald phipps. good to have both of you with us. rhode island, you're saying there's some good news for sellers which, well, gosh, we haven't heard any good news for sellers in a long time. >> actually, we've seen the market finally balance out, and part of the reason is that our market correction for average

price in the last year, july to july, we corrected about 14%. that's down. but what's interesting is in that same period we have seen an 8% statewide increase in activity. clearly, we reached the tipping point where buyers recognize that it is a good time to step into the market. i would be really remiss in not indicating that the $8,000 credit has had a huge impact in our market. nationwide we expect about 1.8 to 2 million sales will be directly related to that $8,000 credit. in rhode island those numbers are actually higher. >> and what about you, milton, in south carolina? you're seeing actual bidding wars on what, and are these real buyers or investor buyers? >> well, there's not many investor buyers. the financing for investors is still hard to come by in this particular banking market, so the people that are buying now are really owner occupants, users in the market, and they

are finding that if they don't give a reasonable price on a particular piece of property, then it will get gone and they'll be looking again for another product. so that is really helped us to have several buyers chasing after the same product once again. >> so, milton, when does all this seep through to prices? you've got a sense of what's going on on the ground. everyone is celebrating this, prices are up from the month before, but from the year before, they're still down, what, 14%, 15% according to the national indices. do you think we're anywhere near seeing them flat or start to rise again? >> well, ours are. we're not -- we're probably 10% off, unlike the national. the greenville market has been an outstanding market. we did not have the huge upticks that rhode island had or the other areas had, the west coast, florida. we didn't have the down ticks of those big numbers either, but we are seeing them now start to hold their own and maybe even increase slightly when we get people bidding on particular properties. it does drive the price back to

the reasonable market number. >> what about from your perspective in rhode island? when do prices actually start to either be flat or go up from a year before? >> we're actually still correcting. part of the problem is we have so many short sales, so many distressed sales and it's taking so long to rekofl those. i'm showing a house later today and it says it's a short sale. one of the reasons i'm showing it is they say they're going to give us a response within 48 hours. our market will stabilize more quickly as soon as the distressed properties are handled more efficiently. it's just a very frustrating process. the other thing about bidding wars, we're seeing bidding wars, but i need to describe them as strategic bidding wars. that is when a price is so low that it is not competitive but compelling, people will step into the market. they will be involved in the competition to appoint, but if they don't get it at their maximum number, they step away and engage in other property. so it's a real strategic bidding war approach rather than the

exuberance we might have seen four or five years ago. >> so it sounds like you're saying it's still really a buyers market. >> it's clearly a buyer's market but the buyers are very savvy. they're educated to value. they really have been disciplined in how they approach analyzing neighborhoods, values, and housing. >> milton, when this november 30th obviously is when the $8,000 first time home buyer credit is set to expire. do you expect that that will be renewed and if it's renewed in say some bigger format as in day it's $15,000 instead of $8,000 and you can get it even if it's not your first time buying a home, would that have a market impact on the market or not? >> absolutely. the $8,000 has been a tremendous uptick for us both locally and nationally over this entire country, and we would support strongly it being renewed into 2010 and being expanded to other properties. whether it will go to $15,000 or whether it will be increased from the $8,000 or what the

number would be would be up to congress and the folks on capitol hill. we hope they would consider as part of the stimulus package because of the importance in housing and the gross national product to extending that number and maybe even increasing and expanding the areas, the types of homes it will be used for other than first time home buyers. >> thank you to both of you. we appreciate it. ronald milton giving us news of bidding wars, albeit with a word of caution. next on the show, we're down 158. still well within the range and off the low of the sell-off. we want to show you the one dow stock that's up today. that is walmart. interesting walmart which is potentially going to be convening with ebay and amazon, having other retailers offer things on its website. and the worst souvenir you could bring home from vacation. find out why. why were their hairs under that thing? why 2009 is the year of the bed bug. did you see the hairs under that bug? we'll be back.! e's 23 years old!

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first trading day in september and we are down just about 1.8% for the s&p 500.

for the dow that translates into a drop of 162. as we said, off the low of the session. let's get an update with matt shapiro and mr. matt nesto and peter. looking a little sad, i think it must be more than the market. i don't know what he could have just heard. let's start with you, peter. what do you read into this? we had a little bit of an improvement and now it went away. >> it went away very quickly as a matter of fact. it's a little surprising considering that the news was, i mean, better than expected. one of the other things i'm worried about is the volume. we actually have some pretty good volume on the downside. holiday week, i'm always leery of any kind of moves on a holiday, but when you have this kind of volume it means a little more. i think the follow through tomorrow could be very important. >> what do you say to that, mr. shapiro? >> here we are first day of september and we've had september's average monthly loss in the first few hours of trading this month.

remember, we were 1027 this morning, erin, and then we just absolutely fell apart, and it's the predicted hour of options traded here that really won out today. >> and, peter, costa, what what about this volume issue? it was pointed out we're on pace for one of the top ten volume days of the year. if it keeps going we could end up in the top five which could be a real negative given we're moving down. >> it could be a big negative. there's no other outside factors. this is seriously -- it's a significant trading day. let's hold onto it a little bit. i don't get crazy over moves like this. i need confirmation of following day, probably two days. if we don't see it tomorrow, i think it's just an aberration. >> matt, what's your view? i know you've been going in depth here on some specific areas. >> two things, i don't think anyone is surprised. who saw this coming, a big

sell-off in september to start things off? we'll see, like peter said, if we see some follow through in here whether it's widespread or not, but i always look to look for anomalies in the market. i call this group broncos because they're bucking the trend. mosaic is a material stock. it should be down. and neutral tandem is a telecom stock. those are the three worst sectors today and those are among the few. i like to look for stocks in weak sectors outperforming on a bad day and there are three for you and your viewers. >> look, we're very excited to find them. what about on the volatility side? matt, what do you see? >> not much apparently. >> he's talking. i see his mouth moving. i was going to test whether any of you saw it. final word then to you, peter costa. >> well, i mean, we'll stay right at this level. i think we'll sell off a little further and with the closing

volumes, you may see one of the busiest, two busiest, three busiest days of the year. we'll wait until tomorrow. if we see the same thing tomorrow i'll start taking my calculator out and be a caabacu refiguring. >> some of this crazy volume is there's a lot of demand for low priced stocks, stocks below 10 bucks per share. so that obviously does create more volume. >> all right. thanks to all three of you, including matt shapiro, if he can hear. actually it looks like he heard. it was us who couldn't hear. we're down 174. next a dictator celebrating four deck kids in power sitting on the largest oil reserves in africa and about to visit the united states of america. a live report from tripoli on what's going on there right now. we'll be right back. i'm here one plane, and guess what... i've still got room for the internet. with my new netbook from at&t. with its built-in 3g network,

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i'm sharon epperson at the nymex. it looks like we'll be below $70 a barrel for the second day in a row. we are also coming very close to that $68 mark, but unable to break below it. that was the low of the session right into the close today.

but again not breaking below that. some say we'll still hold this upward trend we have seen in oil prices for the last couple weeks. also looking at natural gas prices at a contract low below $3, $2.82 was the low of the day. as we have a lot of supply, that is weighing on prices. we will get that inventory data later today from the american petroleum institute. that's the next data point to look for. thank you, sharon. between moammar gadhafi's trip to the u.s. and the release of the lockerbie bomber, libya has been dominating headline. the nation is celebrating gadhafi's 40th year in power. tom aspell is in tripoli, libya, and join us on the phone. some of the pictures have been amazing. what happened today? >> well, the celebrations started a couple hours ago. we saw a military parade. later tonight there are festivities, dances, more parades planned.

they are being watched by gadhafi and some of his foreign guests. there was some speculation that the convicted lockerbie bomber of the pan am flight 103 back in 1998, he was released two weeks ago, that he might make an appearance. libyan officials are now saying they will simply show a video clip of him later tonight on a giantrected in the main screen in tripoli. hugo chavez is here, king abdullah of jordan is here. many middle eastern leaders have come here to celebrate gadhafi. many western leaders declined to attend. this came as letters released in london this morning about supposed deal between the british government and libya to release al megrahi in return for oil concessions were published this morning in london. the headlines from that indicate that the british told the scots that they saw no legal obstacles to releasing al megrahi and also said that the british had made

no promises to the united states to keep al megrahi in jail and libya certainly has dismissed any speculation that it swung oil deals in britain's favor over releasing al megrahi and the libyans are anxious to put the whole affair behind them. >> it sounds like they sound anxious but al megrahi is going to be appearing via video to the libyans. i know the situation there is more complicated on the ground as we saw when we visited, but what is your perception of what the libyans think about america and do they really think that they were wronged in this whole situation? what have you heard? >> well, certainly they continue to insist that al megrahi was innocent of the charges against him and they're confident that had he been allowed to go ahead with another appeal, he would have been found innocent. as i say, they're anxious to put the whole thing behind them. they're very welcoming to american companies. all the big oil companies are already on the ground here

trying to increase libya's output from 1.3 million barrels as much as they can. there's a huge reconstruction project being spearheaded by a company from los angeles. they have 250 americans on the ground overseeing a contract potentially worth $100 billion. there's no dent in american/libyan relations. they're just steaming full speed ahead as gadhafi makes it clear he has a lot of money to spend and ambitious plans for the country. >> tom aspell, thank you very much. we appreciate it. some of those photos make people think of the opening ceremonies for the olympics. as we saw there those photos, e single street light in trillion li has hanging from it a picture of moammar qaddafi. pretty incredible. george soros is making a big investment, 19% in marengo

mining. quantum is the second largest shareholder. dropping t highest prices in nearly a year. shoppers in russia about to pay less for their shoes. it could mean big money. five payless shoe stores will open. they hope to open 90 in the next year and 300. this comes after a successful launch of payless in the middle east. we may have thought it was just here. absolutely not. collective brands shares up 30%. these critters can cause big problems. they can ruin your vacation, ruin your life. i heard a story where they threatened a marriage. we are going to explain.

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since 2001 the incidence of bed bugs is up more than 71%. these foul beasts who are small as a lentil are posing a threat to many things including your vacation. joining us to talk about the bed bug problem is greg bouman. i know i sound like i'm making a slight joke but this is a dead serious problem. not only is it absolutely disgusting but once you get a bug the bug will infest

everywhere you go, right? >> that's absolutely right. we summarize it very simply. first of all, bed bugs are nocturnal which means they only come out at night. they are elusive, so they hide. and as you said, they are great hitchhikers. >> they hide. we have some very foul pictures. this is a mattress. those are bed bugs. where do they hide? i would think i would see that? >> yes. you can find them in beds. what is important is the term bed bug is somewhat of a misnomer. the bed bug does like to go near where we are. they can be behind the head boards, in alarm clocks or even in furniture in the living room and on top of that they can be where we travel. they might be in airlines, buses, subways. >> this is a very disturbing thing. may i just confirm what do they eat? they eat us. >> bed bugs only feed on one

thing. and that's blood. they seem to prefer human blood. >> they prefer human blood as opposed to dogs and things like that? it is the people they are after? >> that's exactly right. we are the right temperature and don't have a lot of fur to block them. even the small ones. and the small ones you cannot see with the naked eye easily are going to feed on us as well. they can wait a year. say you are at a vacation house and come back, they can wait a year for a blood meal. >> they can wait a year? >> yes. that is true. >> you can wake up in the morning and have bites. two follows from this, first, where are they? what is amazing is a lot of them are in travel or in rental properties? >> yes. but bed bug cans be anywhere. it is important to understand, too, that bed bugs do not discriminate. sanitation doesn't matter.

we hear about roaches in dirty kitchens. bed bugs can be in the fanciest, cleanest places. anywhere humans are, dormitories, hotels, apartments. any place humans spend time we can find bed bugs. it is important to understand there is a resurgence. don't expect every place you go is going to have bed bugs. >> to stick up for the college kids out there, that is one of the lowest places for bed bug infestation. >> probably so. >> greg, thank you very much. a serious issue for people looking at buying homes. they can wait a year for a blood meal. it waits, watches you every night, stares and waits for the pinschers. we'll be back.

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everyone, thank you so much for watching "street signs." we are going to hand it off to a bug-free "closing bell." stocks are tumbling today led by the financial stocks t. major averages have the biggest drop in two weeks. the trial of kerviel is to be tried for billions in losses. california's state wildfires have cost $107 million so far out of $182 million fire fighting fund. that is cnbc news now. i'm julia boorstin. we approach the final stretch. hi, everybody. welcome to the "closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo allot with

scott whopner. the fnlts in the lead on the down side, scott. >> sold right into the better-than-expected economic news. the financials getting hit today, maria. the banking index is down 4%. if you take the high beta financial names, cities, aig. >> the energy companies also in the lead. we have been talking about a market that has become overbought on volume that is low. >> definitely a prevailing thought that this market is ripe. for a pullback. there is the start. >> the dow industrials down